Cosmologic philosophy: conscious universe (Introduction)

by David Turell , Saturday, January 07, 2017, 00:53 (2878 days ago) @ dhw

David’s comment: the bolded paragraph does away with the philosophic question we had when this was discussed before. It proposes that the universe is in an anticipatory state until we arrive. Another part of the article discusses the brain as a receiver of consciousness from the quantum standpoint, not the NDE research. The whole article is fascinating.

dhw: I have tried three times to log onto the article, but can’t get beyond the sensationalist headline.

I've added to the quotes below. I've checked with Neil and he has offered help with the links by doing it himself instead of fixing the problem so I don't have to annoy him for help.

dhw: However, thank you for these quotes. I can’t see how they do away with the objections I raised before.

I agree with you, but somehow our consciousness is needed for quantum experimentation.

dhw: the world we observe exists independently of our observation. That does not mean that our observation is objective. It means that the sun existed even when there were no conscious beings to observe it. And despite my notorious agnosticism, I actually believe that. Sorry to be so boringly conventional.

More quotes:

“'The shift into a new paradigm is happening,” the duo writes. “All of us live in a participatory universe. Once you decide that you want to participate fully with mind, body, and soul, the paradigm shift becomes personal. The reality you inhabit will be yours either to embrace or to change.”

"What these two great minds offer is a bold, new understanding of who we are and how we can transform the world for the better while reaching our greatest potential.

"The most distant galaxies billions of light years away, have no reality without you, because everything that makes any galaxy real— with the multitude of stars with their heat, emitted light, and masses, the positions of the distant galaxies in space and the velocity that carries each distant galaxy away at enormous speed—requires a human observer with a human nervous system. If no one existed to experience heat, light, mass, and so on, nothing could be real as we know it. If the qualities of Nature are a human construct arising from human experiences, the existence of the physical universe "out there" must be seriously questioned--and along with it, our participation in such a universe.

"Physics has had decades to process the insight of Wheeler, the eminent American physicist, general relativist and quantum physicist, who originated the notion of a participatory universe, A cosmos in which all of us are embedded as co-creators, replacing the accepted universe "out there," which is separate from us. Wheeler used the image of children with their noses pressed against a bakery window to describe the view that kept the observer separate from the thing being observed. But in a fully participatory universe, the observer and the thing observed are one.

"The brain isn't the seat of consciousness but acts more like a radio receiver, and perhaps emitter, translating conscious activity into physical correlates. (The radio receiver metaphor describes the feedback loop between mind and brain, which are actually not separate but part of the same complementary activity in consciousness.) To understand our true participation in the universe, we must learn much more about awareness and how it turns mind into matter and vice versa.

"These are difficult truths for mainstream scientists to accept, and some would react to them with skepticism, disbelief, or anger. But following the other track of explanation, beginning with physical objects "out there," fails utterly to explain how we are conscious to begin with.

"That's why in scattered pockets, some physicists are beginning to talk about a conscious universe, where consciousness is a given throughout Nature. In fact, the founders of quantum mechanics a century ago agreed more with this view, having understood that quantum mechanics implies observation and agency of mind."

Comment: Please discuss our link problem with Neil. To get around the link problem copy the link in my entries, and paste in Google. Google will give you the article. I firmly believe that our universe is conscious and our consciousness is a part of that overall state of the universe and our brain is a receiver of that ability. But the universe obviously preceded our appearance.